In general, a semiconductor chip (also called integrated circuit, IC, chip, or microchip) may be processed in semiconductor technology on and/or in a wafer (or a substrate or a carrier). The wafer may include a plurality of semiconductor chips in corresponding regions of the wafer. During processing, the semiconductor chip may be damaged by mechanical stress. For example, mechanical stress may occur e.g. during singulating the semiconductor chip from the wafer, during handling the semiconductor chip by positioning systems (also called Pick-and-Place applications) or during thermally treating the semiconductor chip, e.g. during encapsulation or soldering the semiconductor chip.
Such mechanical stress may cause crack formation and crack propagation in the semiconductor chip. The impact of a crack on a semiconductor chip (or a device operating the semiconductor chip) may result in an uncontrolled or undefined behavior, e.g. failure or malfunction, of the semiconductor chip. Conventional methods or sensors for the detection of chip cracks in a semiconductor chip may be limited in their reliability, resulting in undetected cracks, wherein increasing their reliability may be time-consuming and cost intensive.